A federal appeals court in Richmond, Virginia, Thursday took up a long-running dispute between North Carolina and aluminum giant Alcoa over who owns the land under the Yadkin River. As the state appealed a lower court ruling, oral arguments delved into American history, and whether the river has ever been navigable.

New tests have found high levels of arsenic and other chemicals in the Yadkin River, near Duke Energy's retired Buck coal plant in Salisbury. Duke doesn't dispute the test results, but disagrees with environmentalists over what the results mean for water quality.

Union County is one of the fastest growing counties in the state. It added 21,000 residents between 2010 and 2015. To keep growing, it needs more water. A public hearing is planned this Thursday, Sept. 1, on the county's plan to tap a new water source - Lake Tillery, on the Yadkin River.

It's been two and a half weeks since thousands of dead fish washed up on the shores of a small, isolated cove near the south end of High Rock Lake. And it's been about two and a half months since the town of Thomasville accidentally released 16 million gallons of raw sewage in the lake. State officials say the two events aren't directly linked. But they paint a picture of pollution problems that plague High Rock Lake on the Yadkin River. WFAE's Julie Rose reports: